Or perhaps we're underestimating the wishes and determination of a lot of people who buy stock tablets and want them to do more.

Loud consumers who don't know what they're doing are the first ones you hear, but that doesn't necessarily mean they represent every significant demographic of a device's user base no matter how locked down that specific device might seem.

I don't know, you could probably say that about the original Nook Color because it was generally regarded as the best tablet you could buy for the money. I don't think anybody else came all that close with hardware at the time.

Today there is so much quality competition I don't think there's nearly as much incentive to buy a Nook and then root it. I'm sure some people will, but I doubt it's a large part of their market.